Ivory Coast, Liberia plan joint military operation on border

ABIDJAN, Oct 18 (Reuters) - West African neighbours Ivory
Coast and Liberia will launch a joint military operation by the
end of the year along their volatile and porous border, the two
nations' presidents announced on Thursday.

Western Ivory Coast has been the target of deadly raids
blamed on supporters of former president Laurent Gbagbo, who was
ousted in a civil war last year after he rejected the election
victory of rival Alassane Ouattara.

In a report published on Wednesday, U.N. investigators said
pro-Gbagbo exiles were using Liberian territory as a
"recruitment platform and rear base" for operations aiming to
topple Ouattara, who is now president.

"I want to reassure you that we will continue our
surveillance, our monitoring, our intelligence gathering and
will take whatever action is necessary to ensure that peace and
tranquillity prevails," Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
said on Thursday following a meeting with Ouattara in Ivory
Coast's commercial capital Abidjan.

Johnson Sirleaf and Ouattara said in a statement that their
two governments had decided "to organise a joint military and
security manoeuvre before the end of 2012".

Interior, defence and foreign affairs ministers from the two
countries have met three times in recent months to calm tensions
over the border violence.
Continued...